Monday, March 30, 2015

As we follow Jesus through Holy Week, help us to learn more about the way that we are called to follow as we live our lives.

Help us to learn more about our individual calling and our particular path.

Help us also to learn more about the ways of living that are to characterize the life of every follower of Jesus—the ways of obedience, of faithfulness, of courage, of humility, of service, of sacrifice, of grace, of forgiveness, and of love.

Then, having learned more about the way that we are called to follow Jesus as we live our lives, help us actually to follow …

Thursday, March 26, 2015

We affirm that we cannot know or understand what all lies behind and plays into the decisions we make, the choices we choose, and the actions we undertake; we cannot know or be mindful of the roles that genetics, that family and social environment, that human evolution, that experience or lack of experience, or that the influence of others play in why we think what we think, feel what we feel, say what we say, or do what we do.

But we confess that, when it comes down to it, we are responsible for ourselves; we are responsible for our own attitudes, our own words, and our own actions.

So help us to be as wise as we can be when it comes to comprehending the complicated nature of our humanity; help us extend ourselves some appropriate understanding without making excuses for ourselves.

But also help us to be as brave as we can be when it comes to accepting our responsibility; help us to acknowledge our fault and to confess our sins without becoming mired in guilt.

Thank you that you know everything about who we are and about why we do the things we do.

Thank you that you judge us through eyes that see us through your grace and love.

Friday, March 20, 2015

for less than I can by your grace be and
for less than I can through your Spirit do.

Forgive me

for the things I do that I should not do,
for the things I do not do that I should do,
for the things I should do in moderation that I do to excess, and
for the things I should do to excess that I do in moderation.

Forgive me

for the unexamined assumptions that I perpetuate,
for the inappropriate judgments that I pass,
for the irrational fears that I nurture, and
for the unworthy motives that I tolerate.

Forgive me

for treating people as objects rather than as human beings,
for treating your creation with carelessness rather than with respect,
for approaching other cultures with arrogance rather than with openness, and
for approaching life’s questions with pat answers rather than with humble searching.

Forgive me

for responding to your love with anything less than love,
for giving my devotion to anything less than you,
for living this life with anything less than gratitude, and
for looking to the future with anything less than hope.

Forgive me

for accepting despair over trust,
for accepting apathy over compassion,
for accepting stagnation over progress, and
for accepting ignorance over knowledge.

Forgive me for settling

for less than I can by your grace be and
for less than I can through your Spirit do.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Lead us to repent of our hate of, of our disdain for, and of our apathy toward other people. Forgive us for the negative attitudes we have toward some individuals and toward some groups. Forgive us for the ways in which we sometimes think of people in impersonal categories rather than as human beings.

Do not, though, just lessen or even remove such negative and destructive thinking and acting from our lives.

Instead, fill us up with love and compassion so that we will see and treat others as fellow human beings, as fellow travelers, as fellow strugglers, and as fellow recipients of your grace.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

For the marks on my body, on my mind, and on my spirit that are the traces of what I have done, of who I have been, and of how I came to be who I am now, I thank you.

For the marks on my body, on my mind, and on my spirit that I will pick up today and in days to come as I continue to grow into who I am supposed to be, I thank you.

For the marks on my body, on my mind, and on my spirit that remind me of the blessing of being born human and of the struggle to become fully human, I thank you.

Let my thanksgiving be reminder enough to me not to try to avoid or to flee those struggles that leave their mark since it is in and through them that you work to mold me into the person you mean for me to be …

Friday, March 13, 2015

We are so grateful for your love, grace, and mercy that lead you to forgive us for the sins we have committed against you.

Help us to show our gratitude by sharing your love, grace, and mercy with others by forgiving them the ways in which they have hurt us. Help us to grow in your love, grace, and mercy so that we can grow in our willingness and in our ability to forgive.

Let us grow in our experience of your love, grace, and mercy so much that forgiveness becomes what we want to do rather than what we have to do.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Forgive us for the inappropriate and unhealthy ways that we sometimes deal with our sins.

Forgive us for comparing our lives to other people’s lives. Sometimes we tell ourselves, “Well, at least I’m not as bad as she is” or “Well, at least my sins are not as bad as his are.” In adopting such a perspective we fall prey to pride and to rationalization. Help us to move away from such an approach to our sins.

Forgive us for comparing our lives to an unattainable standard. Sometimes we tell ourselves, “I can never be as good as God expects me to be” or “I can never be truly Christ-like.” In adopting such a perspective we fall prey to excuse-making and to discouragement. Help us to move away from such an approach to our sins.

Forgive us for staking our lives on our reputation. Sometimes we tell ourselves, “I am well thought of and respected and so I am good” or “When people look at me they are impressed and therefore I am impressive.” In adopting such an attitude we fall prey to hypocrisy and to posturing. Help us to move away from such an approach to our sins.

Help us to be honest with ourselves and with you about our sins.
Help us to confess and to turn away from our sins.
Help us to ask you to make us into the best version of ourselves that we can be.
Help us to examine and to deal with the state of our heart and spirit.
Help us to grow into greater and greater integrity.
Help us to become more and more aware of and grateful for your grace.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Help me to take my life seriously. Increase my understanding of how my awareness of the connection of my life with your life raises the stakes. Lead me to live in light of the great privilege and responsibility I have to tend to my spirit so that I stay in close contact with you and so that my motives become ever more aligned with your will and way. Lead me to live in light of the great privilege and responsibility I have to watch over my actions so that they show that I put loving you and loving others ahead of everything else.

But help me not to take my life too seriously. Keep me always aware that everything—absolutely everything—begins with your grace; help me always to remember that I am who I am and that I have the opportunity to live the life I live by your grace and only by your grace. Teach me to ask you for your help and then to accept that help. When I fall down, help me to get up. When I fail, help me to try again. Deliver me from frustration; deliver me from pride. Increase my ability to laugh at myself.

Thank you for this wonderful life. Help me to lighten up while I carry this heavy load …

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

for living fully in the moment,
for giving our full attention to the person in front of us,
for loving you with our entire being,
for loving our neighbor as ourselves,
for doing what we can to make things better,
for recognizing the beauty all around us,
for growing toward who we are meant to be,
for paying attention to what each moment teaches us,
and
for living in light of your grace and mercy.

Help us to remember that the present is not

for living in the past,
for obsessing over the future,
for holding grudges,
for pretending superiority,
for presuming privilege,
for fretting and fearing,
for whining and complaining,
for wallowing in guilt, or
for giving up.

Help us to remember that this moment is
the only one we know for sure we have.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Help us to remember that the future is there to give us hope—hope that we will grow in our knowledge of you until one day we will know you as fully as we can, hope that we will grow beyond our sin and guilt and into a full embrace of your mercy and forgiveness, and hope that we will live more and more in love until someday love is all there is.

Help us also to remember what the future is not for.

Help us to remember that the future is not there to give us an excuse—an excuse not to do all we can do now to help make things better because things are never going to be as good now as they will be someday, an excuse not to undertake the hard work of spiritual transformation because one day we will be instantly transformed, or an excuse not to pay attention to what is happening now because we are too busy speculating about what will happen then.

Thank you that the future gives us hope that you are indeed working your purposes out and that one day you will make things as they ought to be.

Thank you that we have the privilege of being inspired by that future to do all that we can now …

Sunday, March 8, 2015

We praise you because one day you raised Jesus Christ from the dead—and he still lives!

We praise you also because you will one day raise us from the dead—and we will always live!

We praise you also because you in these days raise us from those situations that feel like death—and we still live! We praise you because you raise us from our sin, from our disappointment, from our disillusionment, from our grief, and from our sorrow.

We praise you because you are God not of the dead but of the living and because in Christ we are among the living …

Saturday, March 7, 2015

for the mistakes from which we have learned our lessons and which we have otherwise put behind us,
for the sins of which we have repented and for which you have forgiven us,
for the hurts that we have inflicted on others and that we have done our best to make right,
for the hurts that have been inflicted on us and for which we have forgiven the inflictors, and
for the grace and mercy that got us through it and that brought us to this point.

Help us remember what the past isn’t for.

Help us to remember that the past isn't

for trying to live in,
for going back to in order to beat ourselves up,
for wishing we could change it,
for reconstructing so as to deny our responsibility,
for using as an excuse not to be who we should be now, and
for finding reasons to hold a grudge

Friday, March 6, 2015

There is so much in life of which we can’t be sure. That’s all right because evidently we are able to function with a good deal of uncertainty.

Help us, though, to be sure of your forgiveness; help us to be sure of your grace and mercy so that we can be sure that you have forgiven us and will forgive us.

There are doubts we can live with. But when doubts arise about whether your grace and mercy are enough to lead you to forgive us, help them to be quickly quashed so that we can live freely and fully as the forgiven sinners that we are.

Let us always be sure of your forgiveness.
Let us always be inspired by your forgiveness.
Let us always be grateful for your forgiveness.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Help us to come before you without our pretending and without our pretensions; help us to come before you with full awareness and acceptance of who we are. Help us to come before you acknowledging and confessing that you know exactly who we are and that there is thus no reason for us to pose as someone else.

Help us to come before you knowing that you love and accept us as we are. Help us to come before you knowing that you can and will guide us toward becoming the best version of ourselves that we can be. Help us to come before you ready for honest confession of our sins, for full forgiveness by your grace, and for an altered perspective on how to live our lives.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

On the one hand, don’t let our repentance show. Don’t let us walk around with a frowning face and a dismal attitude as if to say to the world, “Look at me! I’m repenting! I’m spiritual!” Don’t let us engage in repentance in order to be seen by people. Instead, let our repentance be between you and us.

On the other hand, let our repentance show. Let it show in a positive change in our motives, in our attitudes, in our perspectives, and in our actions. Let it show in the ways that we behave toward you, toward others, and toward ourselves. Let our repentance be between us and everyone and everything that we encounter.

Monday, March 2, 2015

between self-loathing and self-acceptance,
between apathy and compassion,
between fear and trust,
between hopelessness and hope,
between greed and generosity,
between self-preservation and sacrifice,
between aimlessness and purpose,
between condemnation and mercy, and
between narrow-mindedness and broad-mindedness,

Let us pray ...

About Prayer 365

The prayers that appear at Prayer 365 are written and published by Michael L. Ruffin. Permission is granted to use or adapt these prayers in public worship with the condition that if a prayer is reproduced in a printed order of worship attribution is given. Permission is also granted to link to a prayer at this site provided that a link back to this blog is provided. All other rights are reserved. All Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.